A St. Louis Centre Rendering!

We keep getting more and more news on the planned $220 million redevelopment of St. Louis Centre into parking and retail space.

The Post-Dispatch provided a nice rundown on the project that mentions that not only is a movie theater being considered for the second floor, a fitness center is being considered as well.

Also featured in the article was Amos Harris stating that the redevelopment of the Dillard's Building into apartments and an Embassy Suites hotel could be completed in early 2010.

Finally, Building Blocks came through with a rendering of the St. Louis Centre project, pictured above.

Ch-ch-changes

Good news on the retail front: The Time boutique is slated to re-open in the Paul Brown Building in an 1,200 sf space formerly occupied by Curves.

The Business Journal is reporting that Great Clips will lease 1,200 sf in the building as well.

Finally, the rumor mill is buzzing with the news that Nepalese eatery Everest is planning on returning to downtown, opening a second location at 711 Olive, in the space formerly occupied by Bahn Thai.

Downtown West Goes to the Dawgs

Downtown West's newest business, Dawg Day Afternoon, is about to open at 2321 Locust to cater to all your canine needs, including overnight boarding, dog walking, pet sitting and grooming.

According to its web site, at Dawg Day Afternoon, dogs 35 pounds and larger have almost 2,000 square feet of play space while smaller dogs have over 1,000 square feet to enjoy. In addition, each pet is walked multiple times throughout the day.

With City Pet Supply at 1915 Washington and the 12th Street Animal Hospital at 412 N. Tucker, downtown dog owners now have access to practically every product and service that Fido could possibly need.

1111 Olive Plans Moving Forward

Bob Guller's proposed redevelopment of the vacant former Post-Dispatch printing press building at 1111 Olive has taken another step forward, with a request of $2.35 million in tax increment financing to help cover a portion of the $11.75 million in planned improvements.

IT firm Xiolink will lease the bulk of the space in the 100,000 sf building. Roughly 20,000 sf will be offered to other tenants, and 8,000 sf of space on the ground floor will be available for retail tenants.

Xiolink will retain its current space in the Valley Building at 900 Walnut, where it has 20 employees, and eventually add 50 employees with annual salaries exceeding $50,000 at 1111 Olive. The relatively small number of employees in such a large space would lead me to believe that most of the space will be used for servers and other IT infrastructure.

Personally, I hope that the renovation plans include the removal of the unsightly radio tower from the building's roof. The Marquette Building once had a similar tower and looks much better since its removal.

The New (and Improved?) Macy's

We know that the downtown Macy's will shrink from its current seven floors to just three floors in the near future to help ensure that the store remains viable.

What we don't know yet is the specifics of the plans for the store.

Will the charming Papa Fabares restaurant on the second floor be retained? What about the St. Louis Room? Or the candy counter by the Olive entrance? Hopefully the store will still retain some of its unique features that make shopping downtown a different experience than shopping at a suburban store.

One interesting tidbit: Jerry Berger reports that Macy's is "refreshing" (and re-thinking) its offerings at the downtown store, possibly adding a department featuring fashions from local designer.

Encouraging News on the Railway Exchange

Encouraging news on the Railway Exchange Building has emerged.

Mayor Slay is reporting that Rick Yawkey and Bill and Brian Bruce have the building under contract for $18.5 million, and are set to close in January. The developers are planning a $122 million overhaul and have requested $28.7 million in subsidies for the project.

The Macy's department store would be downsized from seven floors to a more manageable three floors, more consistent in size (125,000 sf) with the chain's more recent stores. Macy's would also lease floors 9 and 10 for office space.

The remaining space would be leased for office an other "non-residential" use. The developer is already in talks with prospective tenants.

Mad Men (and Women) Spotted on Jefferson

Yet another creative firm has set up shop downtown, further strengthening the creative community.

Located at 227 N. Jefferson, Scorch Agency is the latest addition to the downtown advertising scene.

Launched in September by Chris Buehler and Mike Kociela, Scorch is a full-service marketing and events agency delivering "piping hot creative to fuel brand activation" to a diverse roster of clients including Major League Baseball and The Gateway Mall Project.

To Scorch: Welcome!

To the few remaining advertising, PR and design agencies still doing business in bland suburban locales: What are you waiting for? Make the move to a truly creative environment downtown!

Concealing the Future St. Louis Centre Garage

As I mentioned in my last post, I am eager to see a rendering of the redeveloped St. Louis Centre.

One thing I'm curious about is how the two Locust Street entrances to the property will be addressed.

In particular, the southeastern entrance is set back from the street and faces an open plaza (see picture above). With a parking garage going into the southern half of the former mall, there really isn't any reason why it would need a formal entrance plaza. This space could easily accomodate the construction of a new building, which would help to conceal the garage and add density.

Is there any reason to leave this space open?